Description
PYN-up B-24 Ploesti Heroes #1. Of the many, many famous Liberators that participated in the famous low level bombing mission against the oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania, one of the most famous (or infamously maligned) was Lt Brian W. Flavelle’s B-24D-70-CO “Wongo Wongo” from the 513 BS/376 BG. Wongo and her crew are fully entitled to be called “Ploesti Heroes” even though they did not make it to Ploesti. It was the lead aircraft of the second section in the 376th Bomb Group formation enroute to Ploesti. The victim of a significant historical inaccuracy (some would say cover up), the less than expected results of the first wave of B-24s at Ploesti was attributed at the time by the Air Force to the loss of this crew, which was purported to the the “lead plane” carrying the “lead navigator.” For unknown reasons, just short of the island of Corfu south of the east coast of Greece, Wongo stalled, then dove into the sea and exploded. Although the historical record shows Flavelle and his young navigator were the LEADs for the entire formation and therefore caused the various screw-ups that occurred later, this has been thoroughly debunked by both Colonels Keith Compton (376th commander) and John Kane (98th commander) in later years. In a 2000 interview, Compton clearly stated he flew the mission lead plane with Brigadier General Uzal Ent, the mission commander, aboard, and that he in fact led the entire mission under General Ent’s orders. The full story of this pathetic episode is told in the instruction sheet. The second Ploesti hero is B-24D-65-CO, 566 BS 389 BG, “Fightin’ Sam,” flown by Capt Tom Conroy. “Sam” was nearly brand-new ship when the Ploesti mission occurred, and this decal set allows you to model it as flown to Ploesti and with several major versions of later markings.
